A young man’s premium Bond
George Brown’s letter in the December issue of OBM prompted me to recall my experiences with a Mk C Bond Minicar. Mine was the deluxe version with a standard size 6V car starter motor mounted on top of the cylinder head and a belt down to the flywheel, plus a full-size car battery in the boot which helped the back end from hopping around.
This originally had the standard Villiers Mk 8 197cc engine, which I uprated to the 1H 225 spec using the same barrel. This was a worthwhile modification and it could cruise at about 45mph quite happily. In the lust for even more power I bought a 250cc Ajax conversion, which had an alloy barrel plus an alloy horizontally finned head.
The piston supplied gave it a very high compression and it could match an Austin A35 in the traffic light Derby. The downside to all that extra power was a very healthy appetite for chains and sprockets. Also, with the battery in the boot and therefore a very long way from the starter motor, it would often fail to start, which necessitated standing in the engine compartment and kicking it over as it still retained the kick start lever, a most amusing sight for spectators. I had no problems with the bottom end despite the extra power.
Further downsides were that the rear brakes did not have a compensator, requiring frequent balancing to get even braking.
There was obviously no heater and the electrics were not uprated from motorcycle status to cope with all the additional loading with double the lighting/stop lights, windscreen wiper plus winkers. The stop lights seemed to have priority so, when used, the already weak headlights dimmed quite significantly, making driving outside urban areas quite exciting.
There were, however, some advantages, one obviously being the alloy body while the 90-degree steering made getting out of a small parking space easy and entertaining. Although there was no reverse, getting into tight parking spaces could be accomplished by poking the front end in, getting out and lifting the back in – another impressive and amusing sight for spectators!
The hood was very easy to operate and could put down without getting out. Passing the car driving test was a doddle with very few lessons needed, mainly on the reversing aspect. The Bond was also probably one of the cheapest courting vehicles invented as it had a full width bench seat with a steering column gearchange and a flat floor. Its lightness was such that, on leaving a girlfriend’s house late at night without waking up parents, it could be pushed down the road for a sufficient distance before starting the engine.
Bob Henderson, Reading